Shinji Ikari
is a fictional character from the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise created by Hideaki Anno. The main protagonist of the series (and almost all of its spinoff works), he is the Third Child ("Third Children" in the Japanese versions) and pilots the Evangelion Unit 01. He is the son of Gendo and Yui Ikari. Profile Shinji Ikari (碇 シンジ Ikari Shinji) is the pilot of Unit 01. He is the son of Gendo and the "late" Yui Ikari. Abandoned by his father, Shinji has grown up to be unsure of himself, choosing to often run away from situations. Over time and with encouragement from Misato, he learns to be less cowardly, more outspoken, and more confident. He becomes friends with Toji Suzuhara and Kensuke Aida, and Rei, and enters into a confused love-hate relationship with Asuka. The vicious cycle of his and Asuka's relationship becomes the focal point of Shinji's emotional turmoil, coming to a head near the end of the series and in The End of Evangelion.In The End of Evangelion, Shinji is saved from assassination by Misato, and is able to leave the GeoFront in Unit 01. In the end, he and Asuka become the new Adam and Eve. Character history After Yui's absorption into Unit-01, Gendo leaves the three year old Shinji in the care of a teacher so he can focus on "Project Evangelion." Shinji lives a very reclusive existence until at the age of fourteen, he receives a letter containing a Nerv ID card, a risque postcard from Captain Misato Katsuragi, and a note from his father simply stating "Come!" After being caught in the middle of the first Angel battle, between UN forces and Sachiel, Shinji is delivered to the Geofront, where he is ordered by his father to pilot Unit-01 in lieu of a badly injured Rei Ayanami. Shortly after, Shinji is taken by Misato as his guardian and manages to build a social life in his new school, making friends with Toji Suzuhara and Kensuke Aida. As the series progresses, Shinji's relationships with his fellow pilots, including Asuka Langley Soryu, also deepen. The latter episodes focus on Shinji's psychological and emotional problems and his strained relationship with his father, all of which worsen with the increasingly personal attacks of the Angels, culminating in the events of The End of Evangelion. Personality Shinji's loss of his mother and then his father lead to abandonment issues, showing little to no self-esteem, reclusiveness, and an avoidance of any difficult or painful situations (this is often depicted as Shinji listening to his SDAT player with headphones). He is also described as shy, timid, and afraid of physical contact. While he is acknowledged later in the series to be a skilled Eva pilot, in the early episodes of the series, he is never really shown to have any other notable skills besides his talent for cooking. It is revealed in episode 15 that he is a cellist, something of which he had made no mention previously in the series. Thereon, the cello appears as a recurring motif in the series, possibly representing Shinji's "identity" - indeed, his musical talent seems to be the only way in which he feels that he can openly express himself. He claims to be untalented, but is shown both in episode 15 and in Death and Rebirth playing Bach's Cello Suite No. 1, a piece often regarded as demanding considerable skill. Relationships Asuka Throughout the series, Shinji carries out a deceptively straightforward love-hate relationship with Asuka. They are attracted to each other, but neither is able to properly express their feelings. For the most part, Shinji is friendly but also meek and submissive when around Asuka, especially when she is being abusive toward him. In the episodes just after their first meeting, he occasionally confronts her when her attitude becomes too much to bear, but by the end of the series he is almost completely withdrawn in her presence. Asuka's taunting is a front protecting her real desire for Shinji's affections, but for several reasons, mainly his own inferiority complex, Shinji fails to recognize Asuka's harassment for its true intent, and only thinks worse of himself for her criticisms; this, in turn, upsets Asuka even more, and confuses Shinji. The fractured state of Asuka and Shinji's relationship becomes a key factor on events in The End of Evangelion. At the start of the movie, Shinji is shown with Asuka in her hospital room, begging her for help and trying to rouse her from unconsciousness. He accidentally pulls loose her vital sign monitors, exposing her breasts; he masturbates to this sight, but is horrified and disgusted with himself for doing so. His guilt and increased self-loathing add to his previous traumas and cause him to become so uncaring of his own existence that he does not resist when the invading JSSDF soldiers try to kill him. This forces Misato to save him and to try to rouse him from this state so that he can escape the GeoFront in Unit 01. The beginning of Instrumentality and the trauma of seeing the mangled remains of Unit 02 in the hands of the MP which causes Shinji to enter a schizophrenic fugue state in which he and Asuka are back in Misato's apartment; interestingly, at the exact time where he and Asuka first kissed. Again, he begs Asuka for help, while also revealing his true feelings for Asuka ("I want to help you some way... and to stay with you....You're the only person who can help me.") Asuka denies his pleas, attacking (in her view) the selfish nature of his perceived motives. Overwhelmed with his own hopelessness, Shinji loses control and strangles her. Several indicators suggest that the depiction of Asuka in this scene is Shinji's perception of Asuka rather than Asuka herself. However, in the aftermath of the film's finale, Shinji appears on a beach with none other than Asuka. He tries to strangle her; she does not physically resist him, but instead lifts her hand to stroke his face - incidentally, as Yui had done just moments before. At this he collapses, weeping, onto her chest, and as the film ends she says, "気持ち悪い。" ("Kimochi warui", translated into English in the subtitles as "I feel sick", and as "How disgusting" in the dub). The exact meaning of the symbolism in this scene, as well as the intended meaning of Asuka's final words, are unclear and heavily debated. As the series ends there, the specifics of her and Shinji's subsequent lives are left up to the audience. One theory is that she and Shinji assume the roles of the new Adam and Eve. Gendo Kaji Shinji looks up to Kaji as a sort of mentor, and accepts behavior in him that he would disaprove of in other characters. For instance, in Episode 08 when Kaji asks him about Misato's sleeping habits, implying that Shinji and Misato might be in a sexual relationship and simultaneously implying that he is intimately familiar with these habits as well, Shinji just laughs. If anyone else asked him that same question he would probably have stuttered with embarrassmnet, barely able to get out a denial. Kaworu Though fans have speculated on what kind of relationship Shinji had with Kaworu it is at least clear that Kaworu represented a sort of idealized friend-figure to Shinji, granting his wish for someone to understand him, treat him well. Shinji also found himself confessing his own emotions to Kaworu, talking about things he hadn’t had with anyone else. This, paired with the fact that Shinji had killed what he saw as a human being, was part of what drove Shinji into his state of absolute despair in Episode 25', in which he declared that he felt unworthy even of the piloting which had consumed his identity, thinking that if all he did was hurt and kill others, it was better to do nothing. By that, though, he may have condemned Asuka, who was fighting against the Mass Production Evangelions, to death. Analysis Shinji's relationship with his Evangelion and status as a pilot is very ambivalent; the entire series can be seen as a bildungsroman centered around Shinji"The animation, 'Evangelion,' is a kind of bildungsroman about the soul-searching of a 14-year-old boy who has to fight mysterious enemies in a new Tokyo in the year 2015 by piloting a human-shaped robot named 'Eva.'" from Japan Economic Newswire, MAY 8, 1997, THURSDAY. "Cartoon 'Eva' captures sense of void among Japanese youth". by Yoichi Kosukegawa. TOKYO, May 8 Kyodo. On the one hand, as an Eva pilot, Shinji is very reluctant to go to war, to cause deaths, and to enter battle or to actively do things; on the other hand, he is given strength by his mother (whose metaphysical "presence" exists inside Unit 01) and he defines himself by piloting the Eva. Sometimes Unit 01 reaches "berserker" mode - a state in which the Eva is activated without an apparent energy source and the EVA becomes aware and takes over control of itself. During the battle with the Angel Zeruel, his reserve power ran out, and he temporarily meets his mother Yui Ikari. Directly afterwards EVA Unit 01 enters "BERSERKER" mode, and she (Eva Unit 01) eats the Angel, taking the S² into herself. "Look at Shinji. Why does he continue to fight as an Eva pilot? The story keeps changing. He said it's because everyone tells him to. Because only he can do it. Because it has to be done to save humanity. Selfless and lofty sentiments for sure, and he believed those reasons to be genuine. Wrong; he wanted his father to approve of him. To say he was a good boy. How selfish of him, really, to be a human being." --Megumi HayashibaraQuoted from "What I learned from meeting a girl who didn't know", a 1996 essay translated in Viz's English edition of Neon Genesis Evangelion, volume 3 Shinji's estrangement from his father and his mother literally being inside Unit 01 is believed by some to represent the Freudian Oedipus complex. His apparent attraction to Rei, who is a partial clone of Shinji's mother and Lilith, could also be seen as proof of this psychological aspect of Shinji's character; however, his attempts to gain Gendo's acceptance and love and his attraction to Asuka could be seen by some to counteract this idea. He may also be seen as suffering from the culture-specific psychological disorder taijin kyofusho and, from a Western psychological perspective, generalized social phobia and developing avoidant personality disorder. Shinji has often been seen as a version or reflection of the creator of Evangelion: "Shinji does reflect my character, both the conscious and unconscious parts," Anno admits. As a pilot of Earth's most advanced weapon, Shinji is far from the archetypal hero. Abandoned by his father Gendo at a young age, he eschews human contact so that he cannot hurt others, or in turn be hurt by them. The comparison, however, isn't to be taken too literally. "I wasn't thrown out by my father or anything" he laughs. Nevertheless, Anno has referred to the plot line as a metaphor of his life. Alternate continuities Manga adaptation by Sadamoto The manga version of Shinji Ikari is significantly different from his anime depiction. In the manga, Shinji has the same issues with his abandonment, but is a much more violent and troubled youth, sometimes even turning physically violent.(He even attempts to strike Gendo). He is also something of a smart-alec and slightly more forward and cynical when it comes to dealing with others, for instance mentally thinking of Asuka as a "bitch" and displaying an intense hatred towards her unseen in the anime. Fan opinion of this characterization is mixed, with some preferring the manga Shinji because he has more of a "backbone", more like a typical hero. However, other fans feel that removing Shinji's neurotic anti-hero aspects makes him less human and harder to relate to. In the manga, Shinji lived with an aunt and uncle instead of with his sensei before going to Nerv. It is unstated which side of the family these relatives are from. Throughout the majority of the manga, Shinji appears to be attracted to Rei Ayanami, and their relationship is far more developed than in the anime. However, after the death of Kaworu, Shinji visits Asuka in the hospital, similar to in End of Evangelion. He confesses his love to her in a way, claiming, "The Asuka I want to protect isn't this empty shell!" However, instead of shaking her and revealing her body, Asuka wakes up, and chokes Shinji, until she is subdued by the nurses. This suggests that Shinji's manga adaptation has feelings for Asuka as well. Shinji Ikari Raising Project In this manga version, Shinji is also shown to be more confident than he was in the anime, butting heads with Asuka (a childhood friend as opposed to the anime). Also, he gets into somewhat comical situations with girls, much like the lead male character in harem anime. The story shows him in a probable love triangle with Rei (the newcomer in his life) and Asuka (the childhood friend). Here, Rei is a distant relative, from Yui's side of the family. To complicate matters, Kaworu (a Seele agent here) was seen to be very friendly towards him, which Asuka finds irritating. Although Asuka sees Rei as a rival, they both decide to work together against Kaworu, for Shinji's sake. Neon Genesis Evangelion: Gakuen Datenroku This version of Shinji, while still shy, has far more resolve than other versions and is not as troubled. He discovers Rei and Kaworu fighting an Angel one night and ends up awakening powers of his own. He is attracted to Rei and appears to have a strong desire to protect her. His power manifests itself as a gun and he has a strong friendship with Kaworu. Non-franchise video games In Super Robot Wars Alpha 3 Shinji is shown out of character, telling off Kira Yamato of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED. Character notes "Ikari" means "anchor" in Japanese, and can also mean "rage" or "anger." Shinji was named for Gainax co-founder Shinji Higuchi; it can be translated to "child of god."pg 121 of Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Unofficial Guide, by Kazuhisa Fujie and Martin Foster, 2004, ISBN 0-9745961-4-0 Evangelion character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto based his design of Shinji on his design of Nadiahttp://img209.imageshack.us/my.php?image=evaothers033db6.jpg, the title character of Gainax's popular 1990-1991 TV series, Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water (also directed by Hideaki Anno): Speaking in concrete terms, his eyes are girl's eyes. I drew them exactly as I drew those of Nadia. He's a male Nadia, just as if I had given Nadia a masculine makeover. Lengthen Shinji's eyelashes and change the hair style, and you have her.Neon Genesis Evangelion, vol. 2, bonus materials Trivia *The band Fightstar released a track titled "Shinji Ikari" as a B-side on their single "Deathcar". A second B-side that was featured on the single was titled "Nerv/Seele". References ar:شينجي يكاري es:Shinji Ikari fr:Shinji Ikari it:Shinji Ikari ja:碇シンジ pl:Shinji Ikari ru:Синдзи Икари sv:Shinji Ikari zh:碇真嗣 Category:Character Category:Eva Pilot Category:NERV